Self-contained breathing apparatus



sept 18, 1928. 1,684,664 A A. B. DRGER SELF CONTAINED BREATHINGAPPARATUS Filed oct. 29, 125

d" Elf Patented Sept. 18, 1928.

UNITED STATES sa 1,584,664 Tsar orifice.l

ALEXANDERBERNHARD DRGER, 0F LUBECK, GERMANY; ELFRIEDE DRGER, sTANGn,nXEoUTRrX or ssrny nnlienn, DECEASED.

snnnoonfrarnnn BREATHING ArrAnATUs.

Application led October 23, 1925, Serial No. 65,693, and in GermanySeptember 5, 1925.

Breathing apparatus consisting of an air purifying cartridge, incombination with a breathing tube and bag and an oxygen container inwhich the connection of the atoresaid parts is effected by means of laconnenctf ing-piece provi ded with controlling means 'or the oxygensupply, are already known. This connecting-piece. is fastened, by meansof a support ora foot, as the case may be, to a carrier plate, wherebythe breathu'ig apparatus may be carried on the body. The c ontrollingmeans comprise a pressure reducing valve, a manometer or high pressuregauge, and a manually ope-rated auxiliary valve for by passing extraVoxygen. The auxiliary valve may conveniently be constructed as apress-button valve.

ln these known breathing apparatus, however, the three oxygencontrolling means z.. (pressure reducing valve, high pressure gauge andauxiliary valve) are arranged in quite an unsuitable manner` on themultiway connecting-piece. ln particular, no account has been takentherein of the fact that the high pressure gauge must be so disposedthat it can be comfortably observed by the wearer of the apparatus.Furthermore no care has been tallien to mount the auixiliary valve in Aasheltered position and yet so that 1t can be easily and comfortablyfound and actuated bv the hand or by a finger, and, finally, noattention has been given to locating the pressure reducing valve in aplace where it is least in the way and yet is protected. Furthermore,the rigid connection. of the multlway connecting-piece to the carrierplate frequently militates against satisfactory selfeadpistment andseating'of the seating surfaces of the screw connections and impairs theinterchangeability of cartridge andoxygen bottle. The present inventionremedies the troubles arising from neglect of these pre-requisiteconditions, inasmuch as the connecting-piece,

for the assembly and attachment of the afore-r said controllingfittings, is provided with three cmitact faces carrying` the abovementioned three controlling fittings in the desired position. Preferablythe contact face .for the gauge upwardly and outi'vardly directed withrespect tothe breast plate and the contact face for the manual valve isdownwardly directed and the Contact face for the automatic valve isupwardly and inwardly directed. n

In relation to a circle in the plane of the Cil axes of the operativefittings, itmay be said that .the auxiliary valve lies underneath themultiway connecting-piece, the high pressure gauge separated therefromby about 1200,

lpeints outwards, and the pressure reducing valve directed inwards insubstantially the saine angulairelationship.

Moreover, the connecting-piece is not rigidly connected to the carrierplate. but is so fas-` tened thereto that it may be angularly adjustedabout an axis approximately perpendicular to the plane of the carrierplate.

This arrangement of the controlling` fittings and of the adjustablesupport has the following advantages: The operator can comfortablyobserve the scale of the high pressure gauge, without having to strainthe head or even the wholertru'nk forward, as was necessary wlth the.usual arrangements hitherto iu use. With the new apparatus, the operatorhas only to lower his gaze with a slight inclination of the head when hewishes to ascertain the momentary position of the high pressure gaugepointer on the scale. The auxiliary valve is not visible for the wearerbut lies sheltered underneaththe high pressure gauge, for example, underthe connecting-piece, hence it is protected from outside infiuen'ces butcan, nevertheless, be found and actuated easily and comfortably by thehand lor by the linger.v The free space on the inner side of theconnecting-piece, between the latter and the carrier plate, in the anglebetween the auxiliary valve and the vhigh pressure gauge is particularlywell adapted for the housing of the pressure reducing valve, since. inthis place it isleast hindering and is also protected.

A constructional embodiment of the invention is shown `in the drawing.Figure 1 shows the breathing apparatus in elevation. Figure 2 is anelevation of the connecting-piece, drawn to an enlarged scale and lookedat 'from a line of section A-B in Figure l. Figure 3 is a' section onthe line C-D of Figure 2; Figure d is a section on the line E'-F ofFigure 2; Figure 5 shows the support of the connecting-piece separatelyand to an enlarged scale; and Figure 6 is a section on the line G-H of`Figure 5.

rlhe end of the connecting piece (Z containing the low pressure channeld1, is connected to the air purifying cartridge a and the breathing bagc, by means' of screw connections o1 and ,01 respectively; the other endprovided with thechigh pressure channel d,

is connected by a union nut b1 to the oxygen bottfe The high pressurechannel d2 and the low pressure channel Z1 lie coaxially but are not indirect communication with each other. The connecting-piece is suitablyfastened to acarrier plate e, for instance, by means of acrankedsupportg, whiclnbymeans of a bearing or socket g1 is mounted on apivot pin c1 fastened to the plate e. The range of angular adjustabilityof the support g about the pin c1 is limited by a screw'g2 which isscrewed through the wall of the socket g1 and engages a recess in thepin el, thus acting as la stop. The angle of adjustability ofthe supportg (shown in Figure 5) is dependent upo'n the length of the recess. Byreasonof the possibility of adjusting the connecting-piece, which issuspended from the pin g3 of the support g by means of an eye d3, theseatings of the connections of the valve casing ol the oxygenbottle, ofthe cartridge and of thebreathing bag, as well as those of theconnecting-piece may be brought into proper adjustinentl more easily andbetter.

About midway of the length of the connecting-piece (l, where high andlow pressure passages are separated from each other by solid material,the said connecting-piece is provided at its circumference with threebranch projections 7i, z', which, as shown in Figure 2, are distributedaround the connecting-piece at suit-able angles to one another and withtheir axes in a plane at rightangles to the longitudinal axis of saidconnecting-piece. Thus the Connecting-piece and the branch projectionsmay be designed, in a very simple manner as a cast or pressed unit; Onthe contact face of the branch 71 which inclines outwards and upwardswith respectrto the carrier plate (Figure 2), a high pressure gauge m isfitted. The downwardly pointing branch projection i, carries a press-button valve 'n and on the inwardly and upwardly pointing branch la, apressure reducing valve 0 fixed.` The high pressure gauge m, thepress-button val-ve n and the pressure reducing valve 0 are connected tothe high pressure channel (Z2, respectively, through branch passages p,g and r formed in the casting. Moreover, from the press-button valve nand the pressure reducing valve 0 suitably disposed passages s and tbranch olf respectively to the low pressure channel (Z1. Y

The arrangement and function of the high pressure gauge, of thepress-button valve and of the pressure reducing valve, as Well as,

the carrier plate and extending etween, andsupporting the cartridge andthe container,

said connecting-pipe being provided with two f axial opposite channels,one of `which `comlnunicates with the oxygen container and the otherleading to the cartridge, three lateral contact faces on saidconnecting-pipe, an auone `of said contact faces, a manually controlledauxiliary valve carried by another of said faces, and a pressure gaugemounted upon the third of said faces, said contact faces beingcircumferentially disposed 0n said connecting-pipe in such a manner thatthe contact face for the gauge is upwardly and outwardly directed withrespect to the carrier plate and that the contact face for the manualvalve is downwardly directed and f that the contact face for theautomatic valve is upwardly and inwardly directed, the conneet'ing-pipebeing furthermore provided with radial branch-passages leading Vfrom the"toinatic pressure reducing valve fixed upon 1 aforementioned axialchannels to openings in the respective contact faces.

2.111 a breathing apparatus including an air purifying cartridge and anoxygen container, the combina-tion comprising a connectingpipe extendingbetween, and rigidly connecting, the cartridge and the container, andprovided witlran axial channel leading to said cartridge, and withanother .axial channel 4opposite to the first and leading t0 saidcontainer, an automatic reduction valve, a manual valve, and a pressuregauge laterally mounted on said pipe, theV manual valve being arrangedbeneath the longitudinal axis of the connecting pipe so as to beoperated by an upwardly directed movement "of the hand, the gauge beingarranged above the pipe and outwardly inclined with respect to thecarrier plate so as to be easily observed by the operator, and theautomatic valve bein arranged in tlie space between the carrier plateand .the pipe in a protected position.

The improvement in a breathing-ap paratus set `fort-h in claim 2, inwhich the automatic reduction valve, the manual valve, and the pressuregauge are positioned at angles of about'120o with respect to each other.

nr. in. L c. ALEXANDER BERNHARD DRGER.

